1. Field of Invention
An improved apparatus of the type most commonly used to produce fried dough crust, as a shell for pizza toppings, is disclosed. Such a shell is especially suited after it has been cooked, filled and frozen, for long-term storage, whereby the customer may purchase it frozen, store it in the frozen state, and prepare it by baking for a very short time. Such products are popular in today's market-place, as they may be purchased prepackaged, ready for serving, except for the final baking that is undertaken immediately before serving. Characteristics of the product as a pizza crust will be more fully explained hereinafter, noting only that it is believed to be the most durable such product, resistant to excessive delamination during and after frying, and to have, by virtue of control in formulation and method, a relative lack of greasiness, and most pleasing consistency and taste of any similar commercial products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The known art is best represented by the patents to Moline, U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,069 and Totino, U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,659. Within the baking art, such as is indicated by Moline, it has, heretofore, been thought essential to dock, or perforate, a given raw dough sheet before cooking by baking, the essential purpose being to insure that the dough sheet may "breathe" during the cooking process, thereby to exhaust excessive water vapor, and other gases, created during the cooking process, which, if not exhausted, would result in an uneven shell having excessively sized and frangible hollow portions, or blisters, between the surfaces of the dough piece. To the same or greater extent, a problem is presented in frying a dough piece, as in the Totino process. Here it was argued that docking per se was essential to prevent delamination of the crust. Totino called for the spaced apart holes, penetrating all the way through the dough sheet, at least some of which are located in "ligaments": those holes being fried hard to provide "rivet-like bonds" between upper and lower surfaces. Whereas, Totino taught that "ligaments" were the primary means for preventing delamination, the secondary, but essential, means was said to include the rivet effect occasioned by the coincidence of the docking perforations with the ligaments. There are no perforations, nor is any docking attempted, in the production of the within product, as will appear hereinfter.